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It's rather an interesting read what Amit Varma of Indiauncut.com fame writes in the Mint aptly titled 'These Crimes are Victimless'. Amit's proposition that betting, prostitution and taking drugs be legalized may not be revolutionary, but the light it shades on the darker side of humanity is a pithy tale which needs constant repetition.I took up this topic with some of my colleagues to get a feel of the prevailing middle class mood and surprisingly, except for taking drugs, it was OK with most people whom I talked to, that, betting and prostitution should be legalized. I nearly hold the same view. The word 'nearly' is carefully chosen.Suppose betting, prostitution and taking drugs are legalized, would that mean the end of crime as we know it today? I don't know the answer to this question ( Or, isn't it as good as legalizing crime!). Hence, the basic premise on which amit is proposing the legalization of betting, prostitution and taking drugs, which is…

The election for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) are scheduled for 5th April, 2007. Its a time where the delhiwalla, delhiite and omnibus have a say in the future of city.It is strange that the main issue in the elections to the MCD is 'inflation'. What can councilor do to tame inflation ? Inflation is an issue even beyond state governments and only the union government can do something about it. And still the issue of 'inflation' is everywhere in these MCD elections. It is understandable the rise in the prices of daily use items are close to the heart of the voting population, but, the main issue in election of such bodies should be water supply, traffic, pollution, civic amenities and things like that, and don't forget that an seating councilor gets Rs. 1 crore for development work in his/her ward.One thing can be done, we can keep a watch on what councilor are doing to develop their ward, so that some development in civic amenities in the city does take…

Now, that the banter ( on their performance in the world cup ) surrounding the Indian Cricket Team is at its height, and all sorts or things are being said, its a good time to look at the Indian psyche and predict, what will follow. Its a personal take on the series of events which may take place this summer:-Prediction No. 1 - Rahul Dravid will continue as the Captain of the Indian Cricket Team.Prediction No. 2 - Yuvraj, Dhoni, Ganguly, Utthappa may have to take a break.Prediction No. 3 - In the next world cup, the performance may be the same.Prediction No. 4 - We may still continue to watch cricket with the same fervour.Prediction No. 5 - All of the above 4 predictions are just prediction.

I donot know how to react to the news of traffic fines being enhanced by Rs. 500 in Delhi.At first sight, it looks like the rowdy drivers of Delhi may now have to remember traffic rules while driving and the traffic department may end up with a tidy sum as fines. But on second thought ( don't smile please), it seems the traffic police may end up having a good time.Do you seriously think, without being a pessimist, that fines will change the way people behave? It may work as a deterrent. Its a kind of 'short change' , for a long standing problem. I sincerely hope this works.Guys/Gals, India (Delhi) is getting richer, aren't the rise in fine amount showing that clearly!

It is now accepted that user-generated content is the most loved form of entertainment on the Internet and gaining grounds in the mainstream media also. We have Youtube to thank for it. This week, the movie 300 was released. I had also reviewed the movie. The movie has already grabbed 70 odd million dollars in the opening weekend.
300, though based on historical events was inspired by Frank Millers graphic novel 300. You may not have heard or seen that graphic now. If you are interested, then, thanks to youtube, you have your chance below to have a look and enjoy: 300 Movie
If you like the graphic novel, go and enjoy the movie at a PVR near you.Technorati : 300, Delhi, PVR, youtube

300The tag line reads ' They were 300 men against a million' . That is as much needed to understand the movie. Based on historic events and the famous comic series by Frank Miller, 300 (directed by Zack Snyder) is a retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, which took place in 480 B.C. 300 soldiers under the command of King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) of Sparta held out against a large Persian force led by King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) knowing they are fighting a losing battle. Battle of Thermopylae is seen as a legend of heroism and is attributed to have led the world to democracy.Keeping true to Fran Miller's graphic style, Snyder has tried to merge both the mediums of comics and moving pictures into a seamless whole to a great degree of success. One thing is clear from this fusion experiment that you may either hate the movie, or fall in love with it. Either way, you give a lot of credit to director Snyder for bringing forward such strong views from the heart. So the movie i…

Albert Einstein was born today, the 14th March in the year 1879. If you don't know who this man it, then let me remind you what he said about Mahatma Gandhi:"Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as [Gandhi] ever inflesh and blood walked upon this earth."Einstein, may have been the greatest scientist (Physicist) of the 20th century but, it seems his time has come to pass. His birthday is no news appearing in the supplements of major newspapers, but none the less, this man's contribution stand long and tall in the history of man kind. See what he said about fellow men:" A hundred times everyday I remind myself that my inner and outer lifedepend on the labours of other men, living and dead, and that I must exertmyself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am stillreceiving."Its not an anguish or that I loved physics once, but because so many people including Einstein inspired me to learn this pure science. And sometimes…

Few days back 'Forbes' came out with its annual list of the world's rich. Not surprisingly, 36 Indians made it to the list. They accounted for 21% of the country's GDP up from last years slice of 12%. Last year the list had only 23 Indians. Things will be said and written on this subject. The Indian middle class assessment about this is that, India is growing rich, and they can too. Good intentions they may be, but how healthy these thoughts and aspirations are requires our attention. Seen in context, it look inspiring. For example, China with its double digit growth has only 20 and the economic powerhouse of Asia, Japan has 24 billionaires. In short, India is second only to the USA in the number of billionaires in the top 20.Then there is this story in the Mint, which shows us the other side of India's rich. The richest Americans in the Forbes list, for example Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Lawrence Ellison, Sergey Brin or Larry Page are there on basis of their inte…

This summer, you are in for targeted marketing campaigns seeking your attention to the various drinks you should drink.In the US, the cola giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi are noticing declining sales of their products Coke Classic and Pepsi respectively. They are moving towards fortified soft drinks containing vitamins and minerals, which are seen to be healthy. Experts caution that though these beverages are better than regular soft drinks, but consumers are better off getting their nutrients from natural foods, rather than fortified soft drinks.Add to it the incessant need of Delhites for beer. Now that the Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation (DSCSC), one of the four liquor selling corporations of the city deciding in favour of requisition refrigerators on wheels so that the customers get chilled beer at any time of the day, the competition for the cool drink is hotting up this summer.So, it does not come as a surprise, that Pepsi is trying to re-launch Gatorade, an energy and sports …

As I sit down and wait for the summer to unfold, images pass through my head. India is a country of cultural diversity and Delhi being its capital should imbibe it. Even though we have places like Delhi Haat, which brings cultural milieu to the table, yet, to a distant visitor, it may look as a strange coincidence brought together by effort and not in harmony with the city at large.Culture is an effective medium when the surrounding architecture and people conjure up predefined images in context. A cultural landscape is an amalgamation of people, who belonging to different cultures are willing acceptors of other people's culture also. So, when this happens over a long period of time, what evolves is a cultural hub, a different entity in itself and somewhere within this amalgamation the distinctive identity of individual cultures persist. This add 'zing' to the experience. Take Argentina's capital city 'Buenos Aires' for example. The city has settlers from Spain,…

Some typical news this weekend :-1. Election time politics2. Traffic violations to gets costlier ( we are paying more for everything these days)3. Admission Age confusion continues4. Happy Developers5. Holi falls on Sunday (4th March), dry day that is.Election time politics-------------------------------Every time elections are declared in any of the big States in the country, issues of corruption takes center stage. Uttar Pradesh elections are no different. Allegations of corruption about the incumbent Chief Minister is being probed by central agencies.The main question here is, does the electorate buy this argument about corruption and vote accordingly or corruption has been discounted per se, by the Indian psyche. I think the later holds firm.Traffic violations to gets costlier--------------------------------------The government of Delhi would be issuing notification steeply hiking fines for traffic offenses. The silver lining here is that, only those drivers who have at least pass…

The Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in his budget speech delivered in the Lok Sabha ( Lower House of Parliament) on 28th February, 2007 said :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------"My tax proposal on direct taxes are estimated to yield a gainof Rs. 3000 crore. On the indirect taxes side, the proposals arerevenue neutral."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------What does this mean? It means Rs. 3000 crore is come from individual tax payers and corporate tax. According to an estimate made by the mint an individual earning Rs. 5 lakhs with a tax bill of Rs. 1.02 lakh will end up paying Rs. 99,910, even after the enhanced exemption of Rs. 1.1 lakhs; a mere saving of Rs. 2090.We have to wait for the next Budget to know, if this budget was for the long term, or the short term or the starting of end of term ( for the UPA government in power).